THE FINANCIER
organization at 74 South Second one day in June, and
was cordially received by Mr. Henry Waterman, Sr.
There was, as he soon learned, a Henry Waterman, Jr.,
a young man of twenty-five; and a George Waterman, a
brother, aged fifty, who was the confidential inside man.
Henry Waterman, Sr., a man of fifty-five years of age, was
the general head of the organization, inside and out—
traveling about the near-by territory to see customers
when that was necessary, coming into final counsel in
cases where his brother could not adjust matters, suggest-
ing and advising new ventures which his associates and
hirelings carried out. He was, to look at, a phlegmatic
type of man—short, stout, wrinkled about the eyes,
rather protuberant as to stomach, red-necked, red-faced,
the least bit pop-eyed, but shrewd, kindly, good-natured,
and witty. He had, because of his naturally common-
sense ideas and rather pleasing disposition, built up a
sound and successful business here. Merchants, farmers,
and warehouse men in various sections of eastern Penn-
sylvania, southern New Jersey, Delaware, and Mary-
land made large consignments of grain, flour, and oc-
cnsionally produce, to his house, which handled them for
the Philadelphia and New York markets, sometimes re-
shipping, but nearly always disposing of them locally.
From long years of dealing with local interests, wholesale
and retail grocers, flour-mills, and produce-dispensing
organizations generally, the Watermans had built up a
steady demand which came to them naturally, and had
to be supplied. Their daily morning orders were large,
sometimes so large in certain directions that they could
not be supplied. On the other hand, their daily offer of
shipments was sometimes out of proportion to what they
could easily dispose of. Flour might pour in when there
was a glut of flour. It was quite the same with grain and
vegetables. The problem of preserving the more perish-
able fruits and vegetables was a great one. Because the
icing and telegraph industries were in their infancy, it
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